Ohio GOP not giving up suburbs without a fight

Darrel Rowland The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday

Mar 4, 2020 at 6:11 AMMar 4, 2020 at 6:33 AM

With once reliably red suburbs turning purple, Republicans insist they’ll continue to campaign door-to-door for suburban voters, even though one longtime Republican worker said current GOP candidates sometimes have to separate themselves from President Donald Trump.

While the Democratic presidential candidates were scattered across relatively toasty South Carolina and Super Tuesday states last weekend, about 100 of the Ohio GOP’s chosen frozen huddled outside a Dublin home to Keep American Great.

The Republican faithful know full well that Ohio Democrats are coming after suburban voters big time this year after making gains among them in recent elections. That’s why the shivering volunteers spilled from J.D. Kaplan’s concrete driveway onto his snow-covered front yard on leap-day morning for Trump Victory's National Day of Action.

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After hearing a series of brief candidate speeches from Kaplan’s front stoop, they grabbed campaign paraphernalia and fanned out into the suburbs north of Columbus to make the case to reelect President Donald Trump and support GOP office-seekers.

Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by a mere 22 votes in Kaplan’s precinct in 2016, and by 1.6 percentage points in Dublin. Republican Mike DeWine prevailed by more than 4 points in the 2018 governor’s race, but the area turned from red to blue in an Ohio House race on the same ballot.

"The suburbs are becoming more contested," conceded Jack Etheridge, a member of the Republican state central committee clad in his traditional cowboy hat.

"But when the Republican message is accurately heard and conveyed, it is still very much a winning message."

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This is the fifth in a monthly Dispatch series on the Battle for the ‘Burbs, which could decide who wins bellwether Ohio on Election Day in eight months.

"Through our superior data operation and our volunteer training programs, we will actively engage with voters in the suburbs," said Evan Machan, state GOP spokesman.

Several of those who were given 30 seconds apiece for quickie speeches at the brick home a couple of miles from Muirfield Village Golf Club cited the importance of the battlefield.

"They don’t think we have a chance in the suburbs. They’re underestimating us," said GOP Congressman Troy Balderson of Zanesville, who won a pair of narrow races in 2018 despite faltering in many of those areas bordering the big cities.

"We have a message on the economy, jobs and what this country is doing right now, and we’re going to continue moving forward."

Pickerington City Councilwoman Jaclyn Rohaly, appointed to her post last year, drove all the way to Dublin "to support my president" against a "group of socialists" seeking the Democratic nomination.

"President Trump is shattering records. The unemployment has dropped significantly; we have a booming economy," Rohaly said.

"As for women, he’s actually empowering us to get out there and get careers. And he’s encouraging us to make a living because the resources are out there and he’s putting out those resources for us."

Ohio Republican Chair Jane Timken, who also attended the Dublin gathering, echoed the theme of a prosperous economy benefiting Trump.

"Suburban areas are very responsive to his message on jobs and national security," she said.

Timken acknowledged that the stock market had a bad week, but added, "It’s a long way to November."

And she echoed the claim by Trump, made without citing factual evidence, that the stock market is being negatively affected by the prospect of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders being at the top of the Democratic ticket. He is "anti-capitalist, anti-American Dream," Timken said.

She and Balderson left the event to go door to door in the Dublin neighborhood. When The Dispatch asked to accompany them, the request was denied because, they said, they wanted to talk to voters privately.

Another Republican at the event readily agreed to let a Dispatch reporter and photographer accompany him as he knocked on doors. But when the party’s press secretary called Timken, she relayed that she didn’t want any journalists to accompany any Republicans campaigning, even if they had no problem with it and the reporters stayed on public sidewalks.

One longtime Republican worker, who has worked on local, congressional and statewide campaigns, said current GOP candidates sometimes have to separate themselves from Trump. The worker spoke only on the condition of anonymity due to concern about what party leaders might do to the candidate who employs the worker.

Meredith Freedhoff, a first-time candidate trying to turn the Ohio House district that covers Westerville, New Albany and her hometown, Gahanna, red again, said she urges that voters "don’t look at the drama" nationally but listen to the state issues she emphasizes.

"I’m not him, and I want to serve this state," Freedhoff said of Trump.

Kaplan, the host of the event, said he has many Democratic friends in the growingly diverse neighborhood, but he likes Republican ideas. His home also was used to help kick off DeWine’s campaign two years ago.

"I don’t dislike Democrats. They’re an important part of the community," said Kaplan, who runs a graphic-design marketing company. "I have friends on both sides."

What about Trump’s questionable words and tweets?

"He’s a New Yorker. We’re Midwestern. We’re nice in the Midwest," Kaplan said.

"That’s acceptable in New York. I don’t like it."

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland

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